Darko
by at-a-glance
Summary: AU Troubled teen, Danny Fenton, receives a disturbing vision that the world will end in 28 days. After being awakened by a disembodied voice a series of life altering events follow. Based loosely off the film Donnie Darko.
1. 1

_Darko a Danny Phantom fanfiction.

* * *

All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere  
And their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, no expression  
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, no tomorrow _

_(Mad World, __Tears for Fears)_

* * *

October 2 

Slowly beyond the distance the sun began to set, a boy with unruly black hair sat quietly on the cliff that overlooked what was left of the wilderness in his two of Amity Park. He was not often found up on the secluded cliff's edge, reflecting in silence. But he awoke there, with his bike and completely unaware of how he managed his way to the cliff.

He looked down at his watch and hoped onto his bike and pedaled through the barren road, hardly ever taken any more, exchanged for a better intercity road.

As he got farther back into the suburban's he passed an old rundown isolated house, where an old woman was standing almost lifelessly in front of a mail box, she arched her tired old body and peered in, saw nothing and stood back in the road and continued her time honored ritual of checking the mail.

He had to hurry soon his mother would expect him to be on time for dinner, her definition of a family dinner. His features hardened at the thought but he let it go as he often did.

The clock on the wall of the dinning room ticked loudly as a family of four sat at a table quietly eating their supper. At the head of the table sat a robust man with graying black hair and dark navy blue eyes that stared bored across the table at a woman with short brown hair and violet eyes.

On opposite sides of the table sat two of their offspring. The oldest, a lanky female redhead with a pale skin and bright intellectual turquoise eyes. The youngest was a teenage boy. The family stayed in silence hardly ever glancing up at each other, the boy in his boredom played with the food on his plate.

Slowly the woman cleared her throat and directed her eyes on her son. "So sweetie how was your day?" She asked in vain to spark some life to her family.

"Dad almost hit Grandma Death." He announced without looking up.

Jazz snorted and Jack gave off a stare in his son's direction. "I wouldn't have if she'd stop standing in the road all the time." He defended.

"That's a terrible name to give her. We should respect our elders." Maddie preached her daughter snorted again.

She glanced over at Jazz. "What?" The girl asked innocently. Maddie shook her head and continued in her quest for a conversation with her children.

"Danny, how was your session with Dr. Spectra?"

Danny lifted his head and slowly looked up at her with tired eyes. "Unimaginative, inessential, redundant, inane, insipid. In other words, it was alright." He rattled off in a disinterested voice.

"Well," Snorted the redhead across the table. "I'm glad your cynical views are as healthy as your vocabulary Danny." She quipped in return her brother smiled ironically at her.

"Hey Jazz, I think I hear something. What's that, you've been rejected from Harvard because you slacked off for a year?" He teased darkly cupping a hand over his ear for dramatic effect. His sister gritted her teeth and looked ready to lunge at him.

"Danny." His mother warned.

"Don't take your negativity out on me. Just go pop another pill everything will be alright later." She quipped.

"Jazz." Maddie hissed.

Danny shrugged indifferently. "Hey, that's what you get for doing your thesis on someone like me. Though you wouldn't know what it's like Jazz? Everyone analyzing you, I bet you'd hate all your flaws found out and put under a microscope. We all know you're insecure Jasmine."

Jazz glared at his and clutched her fists tightly. "Danny you'd better stop." She warned in an angry voice.

"Kids..." Maddie sighed warily.

"Come on, there's still a reason you sleep with Bearburt. What's wrong Jazz? Scared? Or did you just forget your childhood and noticed it slipped away and now you can't go back." Danny challenged.

"Danny!" Jazz yelled angrily.

"Oh no, please stop me if I'm right." He continued smugly.

"Danny, Jazz that's enough." Maddie demanded fiercely.

Danny shot one more look at his sister and pushed his chair out roughly. He stood up and slammed his hands down on the table before stalking off. Jack and Maddie exchanged a worried look. Maddie sighed and got up slowly to follow her son and left the remainder of her family to continue their dinner in awkward silence.

She climbed the stairs up to the second floor and made her way over to a room with a few distasteful posters plastered on it. She lifted her hand and knocked on the door lightly. "Danny?" She called in that sweet worried motherly tone. With no answer the auburn haired woman let herself in.

She walked into the messy gray room and gazed at the scrawny figure lying on the blue sheets of the twin sized bed. She strode over and sat beside him and gently ran her fingers through his hair. "What's wrong son? So moody and gloomy all the time. Where's my little boy?" She mused staring down at the teenager.

"Nothing's wrong with me mom." He mumbled shifting slightly.

She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deeply then opened them again and met with his striking blue eyes that stared up at her through his jet black bangs. "Sweetie, it's not that we think something's wrong with you...It's we just want to make sure you're ok."

His hopeful trusting eyes grew dark and spiteful. "I knew it." He growled pulling away from her and sitting upright. "You don't believe me." Danny stood up angrily causing Maddie to draw back. "Get out. You guys never believed me. Why should I trust you if you don't trust me? Get out!" He shouted.

Maddie stood up but refused to leave right away. She wanted so badly to reach out and get the son she remembered back. She would've given anything to have that relationship back again. "Danny please..."

"Shut up!" He cut her off fiercely. "I hate you, I hate dad, and I hate Jazz. Sometimes I wish you would all die." He ranted brutally.

His mother withdrew and walked quietly out of the room, leaving the steaming teenager to vent on his own. She slowly wobbled over to her room and found her husband preparing for bed. She entered the dimly light room and collapsed on the bed fiddling with the buttons on her blouse.

"Your son said he hated me." She announced to Jack who was brushing his teeth in their master bathroom.

The man wearing pink pajamas spit into the sink and washed his mouth out with water. "So he's my son now?" He said pulling the floss out and began threading it back and forth between his teeth.

"Jack please...There's something wrong with Danny." She sighed distraught fully tugging at the spirals on the note book she'd snatched up from his nightstand before exiting.

"Well, we pump him full of so many pills. Is it any wonder he's so moody?" Jack suggested a while walking back into the room hitting the bathroom light switch on his way out. Maddie got up and went to the closest to retrieve her teal night gown.

"Jack you know the Doctor said we had to. For his own good." But in response she received a muffled grunt in distaste.

Quietly she sat on the bed beside him and opened the notebook and began reading. "And another thing, I don't like the idea of us intruding on his dreams too." Jack announced watching his wife thoughtfully skim through the pages with the scratchy writing.

His wife ignored him and began to read aloud. "'One second chance is luck, two second chances is tragedy.' 'The clock goes full circle unless the pendulum is halted.' 'Time moves backward and forward but never straight.' 'The domino effect is irrelevant, it can be stopped if you're willing to bend.'"

Jack smiled and snatched the notebook away, he turned through the pages himself. "Our Danny seems like a philosopher, not a psychopath."

"We never said he was psychopathically disturbed." Maddie defended quickly.

"Now I like this one." Jack stated pointing his finger on the page. "'When it all comes down, wave at a stranger. You might've met them or you'll meet them sooner or later. Besides in the end we all have to return the favor.' Ha pure genius." Jack said proudly slamming the book shut and throwing a victory glance at his very critical wife.

"I think we aren't giving him enough credit." Jack sighed conjuring up all the seriousness he possessed.

The woman was about ready to fight the statement, but she decided against that loop again. For some reason she just couldn't make the situation make sense to her husband. Breathing deeply Maddie decided to change the subject. "Did Jazz go out?" She asked.

"Yes. You don't think that she really didn't get into Harvard, do you?" Jack questioned. Maddie shrugged and slipped beneath the covers beside her husband.

"I bet she did. Goodnight sweetie." They shared a kiss and turned the lights out.

Meanwhile Danny sat in his room lit by a single dim lamp. He stared down at a sketchbook of things that seemed to dance in his mind. He ran his hand over the soft paper and lead and stared at his now grayed palm. "There's nothing wrong with me." He persuaded aloud. "I'm just different."

He laid down and stared at the ceiling fan, it was just him, his thoughts, and the whirring fan. He watched the blades circle in a swift pattern above him the soft sound echoed in his ears. For a while, perhaps hours he traced the movement with his finger his brain throwing a thousand ideas at him all at once.

Names, voices, faces, things he knew others he didn't. He sighed lightly letting his eyes close for a moment. The way he saw it he'd been messed up from day one, a ghost obsessed family, he was never meant to be normal. Of course two years ago they immediately dropped the ghost lust after his little accident.

"Oh yeah, now they care about our well being." He scoffed.

To say it was little was in fact an understatement. But he always hated to make a big deal out of nothing, he wasn't dead, he wasn't mutated. He was still just Danny Fenton, the ex Ghost Hunters' kid. The town knew him, the town always knew him and he was very well aware that they'd whisper and point as he walked by.

_'Yeah that's the boy who was nearly killed by Jack and Maddie's sick obsession.'_

A smiled tugged at his lips, they didn't know him. The truth was they didn't want to and he was just fine with them living their viral lives without him. Turning over the boy let the tiresome groggy feeling halt his thoughts and let him drift off into darkness.

_"Danny. Wake up." _

He turned over.

_"Wake up Danny."_

Empty blue eyes snapped open and stared sightlessly into the darkness, he was still very much asleep. Being half aware made him nearly float of out bed and walk thoughtlessly down the stairs. Once again the deep dark voice called to him.

_"Danny. Come Danny."_

He padded lightly against the living room carpet and sought his awakener. Realizing it wasn't calling from inside the house he made his way over to the door. It clicked once as he opened it and muffled a grunt as he shut it behind him. Danny walked outside into the dew covered grass and stood there, awaiting instructions.

His blue eyes scanned the perimeter of his front yard until finally it feel upon a cloaked figure standing beside the trash cans that were sitting on the curb to be picked up by the break of dawn.

_"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds."_ It announced, its bright red pupiless eyes staring through Danny from behind the dark purple cloak.

"What are you?" Danny asked lacking any sort of courage in his voice. He squinted in attempt to grasp the image but was failing miserably. It remained silent behind it's cloak just staring. "Tell me!" Danny demanded.

_"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. This is when the world will end." _

_

* * *

AN: Voila, my first full length AU story coming forth. If you've seen Dannie Darko and understood it, this will be similar, not exact but similar. The charctes will drift in and out of their canon personalities for very good reasons. And this is going to be a huge complicated project for me because I'm twisting two things into one and one and working in the philosophy and theories along the way. Reviews and opinions will be greatly apperciated. Have fun with this, I know I will._

_p.s. I don't own Donnie Darko or Danny Phantom._


	2. 2

October 3

(twenty seven days remaining)

"Hey Danny wake up." A man beckoned. Danny felt something stick lightly into his side causing the light blue eyes to open and blink confusedly against the blaring sun. He looked up to see a graying and balding man and his companion a younger brown haired gentleman. He recognized the older one as the family physician.

"Is he ok?" The brown haired man asked.

The grayed man looked over at his companion and explained. "He's the Fenton's kid, he's fine." He looked back over to the kid lying on the ground still dressed for sleep.

Danny looked around with his hand covering his eyes from the blaring sun. The grass was a vibrant green, short and up kept well, along the way there were small flags with numbers marking certain areas. He blinked up at the men who stood with their golf clubs in hand and slightly concerned but irritated eyes.

"You sleeping walking again Danny?" He asked the silent teenager. "You've got be careful kid, consider a lock." It must've all been a dream.

Danny nodded thoughtlessly and pulled himself up to his two feet. He quickly brushed past the men and walked along the green course. Tiredly Danny began to walk home but as his arms swayed at his side he noticed a tint of black in the corner of his eye. He stopped and stared down at his arm a series of digits were written in some sort of maker. And it followed as, 28:06:42:12.

He brushed his hand over his forearm but it stayed there, a bleak reminder of his late night visitor and a dark prophecy. Danny shook his head letting his black bangs fall across his face; it was too nice of a day to be near the end of the world. He figured on his walk, that he'd sleep walk and at one point scribbled the numerals down in some lucid state.

Either way the cloaked visitor couldn't have been there and couldn't have possibly led him away, not when he swore he was wide awake during the encounter. He relaxed under the warm sunshine, everything seemed utterly and completely normal, his dreams were just getting to him again.

Slowly Danny rounded the corner that led him to his street in which his house was only a few feet down. But as he walked their street he saw what could've been easily been mistaken as a circus. Well, the media was going to have a field day here.

Several people had gathered and were still gathering, each one finding a place to fit in behind the yellow makeshift fence. Beyond them was his house which was crowded by one fire truck, a few patrol cars, an idle ambulance, and a rather large crane. Danny pushed past the people and looked upward to where the crane was, it was lifting something from out of the now half crushed roof of his home.

Danny walked right by the police line and almost made it before a gruff man dressed in his blue uniform caught him. "You're going to have to stand back kid." He commanded tightening his grip on Danny's shoulders.

"That's my house." Danny cried in frustration he began to wriggle out of the man's grasp. "That's my house." He repeated before breaking free and began to quicken his stride.

The teenager wasn't sure if it was relief or disappointment that overcame him as he saw his family standing safe and unharmed between the ambulance and fire truck. But either way he moved forward toward them.

"Wait, there he is." Jack announced happily as Danny walked up to them slowly, his mother shared a smile but his sister's reaction was quite different.

"Oh..." Maddie sighed.

"Danny you're alright!" She cried and as soon as he was close enough she trapped him a death grip that she liked to call a hug. "It fell in your room." She explained to him in an almost hushed voice.

He felt ridiculous and here he thought they had been crushed in the bizarre accident, but all along they'd believed it was him. He looked up over Jazz's shoulder and saw the crane lifting a pill shaped object of steel from the hole in their roof. He wondered though, why his parents weren't as concerned as Jazz.

But he forgot soon and joined his family in watching the crews in silence. Danny could feel the pressure from his father's hand on his shoulder and he held back any urge he might've had to shrug it off. Soon a hefty man with a gray suit on and a hideous yellow tie came power walking up to them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, might I have a word with you?" He asked while pushing his thin framed glasses further up his pudgy nose and waving a clip board back and forth as if he thought Jack and Maddie were blind. The parents, although less then enthusiastic, followed the man over to what might've been his car.

Jazz watched with curiosity and immediately got the notion that he was there because of the engine that had crashed through the Op Center and destroyed her brother's room and part of the hallway. Subconsciously she slipped her hand over Danny's shoulder in place of Jack's and muttered a hardly audible apology to him. She couldn't bear the thought of knowing he'd never known how much she loved him.

"It's strange, isn't it? Fell from the sky, no plane, no crash, just an engine." She mused and Danny nodded knitting his eyebrows and staring accusatorily at the engine. It was strange indeed.

------

They'd been placed in a hotel for the night, at least till the house was considered fixed enough to let them live in it. Danny already knew as he pulled out a fresh pair clothes from his suitcase that he wasn't going to have a room in a long time. Even with all his stuff meeting a certain doom as of four am last night, there'd still been some clothes lying in the laundry room.

He settled on the bed next to Jazz's bed. They'd be room mates for a least two days and he was not enjoying the idea. Little Miss know-it-all would probably take to psycho analyzing the hell out of him, as if he hadn't had a whole years' worth of that torture. She was already sitting a top the pale yellow floral print blankets of her bed with a book and the TV on. He never understood why she liked to read and watch TV at the same time.

Shrugging he turned his attention to the glowing box and watched whatever spectacle played across it. It was his house, his very destroyed home. He smiled with a twinge of irony as they talked about the mysterious engine, the one the Fenton family was told not to discuss.

In the room beside them two very confused parents sat on the bed together. Jack had taken to pulling off his socks as his wife sat quietly with her hands folded neatly in her lap and a distant look on her face. "You know what could've happened?" He said quietly.

"Yes Jack, please. I don't want to talk about this." Maddie responded covering her face with her hands. "I don't even want to think about the way things would be if he hadn't left last night."

Jack nodded and wrapped an arm around his wife. "It's ok Mads, we've still got our boy. It's going to be alright."

Maddie put her hand over Jack's and smiled at his comfort. But she wondered how much of her son they actually still had. She brushed her thoughts away and lay down with her husband to try and get some sleep. Perhaps tomorrow would be different.

------

October 4

(twenty six days remaining)

Of course when were the days ever the same? Danny had gotten up early, taken a quick shower in the questionable hotel bathroom, gotten into his school uniform and waited until Jazz took him to school. Of which she did early, leaving him plenty of time to sit around and do nothing.

Danny sat outside on the rim of the small decorative garden. His head was turned upward and his eyes were shut as if he were sunbathing outside the school. A dark skinned boy roughly his age plopped beside him and smirked. "Dude you're here early. I heard you cheated death."

"Whatever..." Danny sighed. "It was nothing, I just wasn't there is all."

The boy proceeded to type on his small hand held device. "Did ya hear there's a new kid coming in today?" The boy known as Tucker asked in the mind set of making idle conversation.

"What does it matter?" Danny responded mindlessly placing his hands behind his head for neck support. "Not like they're going to make a change around here."

Tucker only shrugged and kept to himself until the bell rung and the two departed their separate ways. On his way the blue eyed teen got a nasty glare and threatening look from the resident jerk, Dash Baxter. It was quickly ignored and any sort of physical contact had been quickly evaded.

Danny walked aimlessly to his English class and took his same old seat and placed his books on the desk. So far he hadn't even caught a hint of the new kid, or of their gender for that matter.

It was a slight interest, one that he wasn't about to pursue for long. Whether or not he saw him or her wasn't going to bother him. Danny slouched in his seat and almost tuned out as the teacher began. A man in his late twenties and a large bald spot on the center of his head, for some Mr. Lancer was a bother, to Danny he was a different sort of teacher, one that didn't follow the code and often urged free thinking.

"Alright class we're going to get down to the basics now. Let's discuss the book I trust you all read. How about you Star? Why do the children break into Old Misery's house?" Mr. Lancer said looking at the blonde seated beside Danny.

She resembled that of a young deer caught in the headlights of a Mac Truck. "Well, umm they wanted to rob him." Star stuttered out fingering the edges of her book the whole time.

Lancer only sighed. "Had you managed to take a few minutes out of your busy day to read the thirteen page short story, I think you could contribute effectively to the conversation. Danny, in light of your recent brush with destruction perhaps you can give us a thought worthy opinion."

Danny nodded. "Well... they say it right when they are ripping the place to shreds, when they flood the house. Something like... destruction is a form of creation. So the fact that they burn the money is... ironic. They just want to see what happens when they tear the world apart." He paused to collect his final thoughts. "I guess they want to change things."

Lancer gave a nod but the class' attention was lost as the door in the back of the room opened. A girl, roughly sixteen was standing holding a few lose papers and books, a purple bag was slung over her shoulder carelessly. "Can I help you?" The teacher asked.

"Yeah, well I just registered. They put me in the wrong English class though." She answered jerking her thumb toward the door, Danny was immediately intrigued by her voice.

"You look like you belong here." Mr. Lancer noted looking at her appearance, which was that of a white blouse, a knee length black pleated skirt, and black vest, as was school issued.

"Ok, where do I sit?" She asked quietly looking around at all those who had their eyes on her.

Lancer smiled and found that a good social experiment was at hand. "Sit next to the boy you think is the cutest." That statement caused a lot of whispers to fly through the room and many guys to raise their eye brows at her.

"Quiet. Let her choose." He said, trying to hush the class.

She bit her lip and saw Danny sitting like everyone else, with his neck craned toward her. But unlike the other boys he had refrained from making any sort of gesture or cat call that left her uneasy. To her, he was the least threatening and she locked eyes with him for a few beats until Lancer interrupted.

"Star, get up." He said and the blonde girl quickly snatched her things up and left for an empty seat and the new girl took her place.

Danny looked beside him at the girl and took in her appearance. She was a scrawny thing with short jet black hair half pulled up in a small pony tail. Her lips were painted a violet color and her eyes were a deep lilac color. She locked eyes with Danny for a few moments again, this time she looked less nervous and more curious.

Danny was sure he blushed.

* * *

_AN: Well lately I've been having writers block, like nobody's buisness. It sucks is all I can say about it. But luckily I can still somehow do this story but Familiar Stranger is suffering for it. But yeah I like all the reviews you've given me and it's fine whether or not you've seen the movie. I changed things around anyway. and yes I squeezed Tucker in, tis a shame he wont have a bigger role. Ah well, so thanks again and I hope to see you cool cats in later chapters._


	3. 3

October 7

(23 days left)

"So… How was school today?" Jack asked as he drove his distant son home from school, with the house slightly fixed they no longer needed to take up residence at the shabby hotel.

Danny stared out the window and gave the weak universal answer of all teenagers. "Fine." And that was where Danny hoped the conversation would end.

"You learn anything?" Jack pursued, he was so tired of his drifting son, he loved him. It wasn't that he and his wife had meant to alienate him, or treat him differently. And every day Jack had to live with the guilt of knowing it was his fault Danny was what he was.

"Arts and crafts was a blast." Danny said not a single touch of enthusiasm came from his lips, the sarcasm just dripping through every word.

Danny continued to stare out the window of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle, one of the few things his parents wouldn't give up, as Jack accelerated down the road, a back road leading out of town. His father appeared not to have noticed his sarcasm. That or maybe he was hiding his disappointment.

A twinge of guilt made Danny try to start over. "They still don't know?" He questioned his hand slightly covering his mouth and muffling his words.

Jack quirked an eye brow and stole a glance of the raven haired teen sitting in the passenger's seat. "Know what?"

"Where it came from." Danny restated, 'it' already was well known.

Jack grunted. "No. Apparently they can't tell us what happened yet. Something about a matching serial number that got burned." Danny rubbed his arm subconsciously and heard his father chuckle "I had to sign a form saying I wouldn't talk to anyone about it." Jack explained.

"So we're not supposed to tell anyone what nobody knows." Danny laughed, a slight feeling of comfort fell between the two for a few seconds.

"Yeah. But you tell your doctor-" Jack fumbled with the name, his tongue rolling around searching for it.

"Dr. Spectra, dad."

The father nodded his navy eyes becoming glazed "Yes. You tell Dr. Spectra whatever you want."

Jack looked over at his son, smiling reassuringly. Maybe things would turn out all right. Danny was just a little lost, still, as far as they knew, coping with the infamous 'accident' but the boy seemed to be ok. Jack's smile grew, Danny would be ok.

"Dad?" Danny warned his eyes slowly leading his father to the windshield, but Jack didn't follow.

"What?" he smiled.

Danny lunged across the dashboard. "Dad!" He shouted.

Jack jumped and immediately looked up to see the problem and he slammed reflexively on the brakes just in time, years of reckless driving finally paid off. Father and son watched in disbelief as an elderly woman with slicked back white hair wandered back and forth in front of the RV. She seemed unfazed by the fact that she was nearly inches away from being hit.

Danny got out of the car as the woman hobbled her way to her ancient mailbox, bending down to inspect the contents. The red flag wasn't up and hadn't been for over forty years. The simple gray mailbox read I. Manson. But Amity knew her better as Grandma Death.

He smiled sympathetically as the old woman closed the box. "No mail today. Maybe tomorrow," he said, not sure if it was any sort of consolation to the tired but hopeful woman.

Suddenly, she turned around and limped back to him, her pale eyes taking on a shine from behind her thick framed glasses. She reached up with her little hands and caught his shoulders and pulled him down to her hunched level. So quietly she began to speak, a feat he wasn't sure she could do, he strained to catch her words.

Jack finally stopped clutching the steering wheel and came out to join his son, glancing at Mrs. Manson as she made her way back to her house her purple skirt gathering dust as she walked. He stared at the disturbed look on Danny's face.

"Well what did she say?" The curious father asked.

Danny stared off he opened his mouth to say, but nothing came out.

--------

Danny lay on a light red couch in a pale yellow room. There were two windows, three large book cases that covered the wall, and a few paintings that he found disturbing. There was a woman sitting opposite him in a beige arm chair, it had mahogany arm rests that curled like it's feet.

She was a woman in her thirties, she had short bright red hair that was most often slicked backward. She often wore a red coat jacket and a loose red skirt to match. Occasionally she wore red pumps to go with her eighties businesswoman style, Danny smirked, the only thing she was missing now were the shoulder pads.

For a few minutes Danny had refused to talk leaving them in an uncomfortable awkward silence, he knew Dr. Spectra couldn't stand it when he did that. He knew it wasn't because that sort of situation unnerved her, and it wasn't that she was annoyed with the waste of time, she got paid either way. But Danny was aware that she actually wanted to make progress.

"So Danny..."

"I made a new friend." He interrupted quickly.

Spectra cocked her head slightly in interest and observed the boy. "Oh, real or imaginary?" The standard question asked every time he mentioned someone new. It was degrading but, as he was so lightly reminded, mandatory.

"Imaginary." Danny responded dully.

"Tell me about this friend Danny." She demanded kindly.

The teen shrugged. "His name is Clark ."

" Clark ?" She repeated.

"Yeah, he always wears a cloak and he hovers, I think he's a ghost or something." She nodded fiddling with the edges of her notebook.

Spectra nodded again. "Do you talk to him? What does he say?"

"He said... to follow him."

"Follow him? Where?" The therapist asked leaning forward in her seat.

Danny hesitated, wondering if he was betraying his savior by telling others of his existence. But surely the cloaked being wouldn't mind. "Into the future." He finally admitted.

By now Spectra was intrigued, her mind unable to determine what could possible make Danny think these things up. "And then what happens?"

"And then he said... Then he said that the world was coming to an end." Danny shut his eyes remembering the doomsday clock on his arm. 28:06:42:12. But that still couldn't be real, it didn't seem real.

Spectra hesitated herself, contemplating the inner workings of the teenage boy's mind. "Do you think the world is coming to an end Danny?"

His eyes grew distant. "No." He laughed slightly despite himself. "That's stupid."

--------

Finally night had come, something Danny was so relieved to see.

Danny settled down on the couch, his new room. Danny wasn't sure whether or not he really cared for the destruction of his room. Shrugging Danny let it go and settled on the pale blue couch, wrapping himself in the brown fleece blanket. He yawned letting the past events sink in as he fell off to sleep.

_Rushing water. A tidal wave indoors, ruining the text books and puddles around lockers and classrooms._

_Graffiti, a black can of spray paint and an axe. _

_"Wake up Danny."_

_Glowing eyes, swing the axe. Abnormal strength, power. A bronze head meeting it's end. Darkness, a beam of eerie light. Swing again, tubes burst and steam surrounds. _

_Up down up down. Hissing rhythmically sounds, a trail of meaningless letters forming into a full sentence. Rushing water sounding from behind closed doors. Danny sitting quietly on the couch eyes closed his hand over his face._

They made me do it.

* * *

_A/N: Not as long as normal, but it'll suffice. Anyway, are you confused now? Huh? Are ya?::laughs:: Yeah it'll make sense later. Yup I'm exhausted now, I should probably be studing or something but I got inspired to take on this chapter and I did. Maybe now I can get a decent night of sleep...Snerk, yeah in my dreams. Isn't that an oxymoron? Who cares, So let me just say thank you all of you supportive people, you all make my day, everyday with all your reviews and dedication to my stories. I 'preciate it! _


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